In general, there is known an air conditioner as a device for keeping comfortable a certain space such as a room or the like (hereinafter generally referred to as “room”).
The air conditioner is provided with a compressor, a heating heat exchanger, an expansion valve, and a cooling heat exchanger. The air conditioner is configured to blow a cold air generated in the cooling heat exchanger into a room so as to cool the room, or to blow a warm air generated in the heating heat exchanger into a room so as to heat the room.
However, most of the conventional air conditioners are fixedly installed at one place in a room. Therefore, when only one region of the room is to be locally cooled and heated, the conventional air conditioners cannot cope with such a need.
Particularly, when a room is wide, even if it is desired to cool and heat the room locally, there is no way but to cool and heat the entire room. Unnecessary energy consumption occurs due to such a disadvantage.
In addition, since the conventional air conditioner is fixedly installed at one place in a room, the discharge direction of a cold air or a warm air is limited. Thus, the cold air or the warm air may not be blown toward a specific region in a room, or there may be generated a dead zone in which the blowing amount of a cold or a warm air is remarkably low. Due to such a problem, the cooling and heating efficiency of a room is remarkably lowered.
Under the circumstances, there have been developed various air conditioners capable of locally cooling and heating a specific region in a room and capable of efficiently cooling and heating a dead zone in a room.
As an example thereof, there is known a movable air conditioner. The movable air conditioner is configured so that an air conditioning unit for performing an air conditioning operation is movable. After the air conditioning unit is moved to a place where cooling or heating are required, the air conditioning unit is operated to provide a cold or a warm air. In particular, the movable air conditioner provides a warm air discharged from a heating heat exchanger of the air conditioning unit or a cold air discharged from a cooling heat exchanger of the air conditioning unit.
Therefore, it is possible to locally cool or heat the place where an air conditioning operation is required, and to effectively cool or heat a cooling or heating dead zone.
In some cases, the movable air conditioner may include a sensing unit for sensing a air conditioning load side in a room, a moving unit for moving the air conditioning unit, and a control unit for controlling the moving unit to move the air conditioning unit toward the air conditioning load side.
In particular, after the air conditioning load in the room requiring the air conditioning operation is sensed by the sensing unit, the control unit controls the moving unit to move the air conditioning unit toward the sensed air conditioning load and operates the air conditioning unit moved toward the air conditioning load.
Therefore, after locating the air conditioning load in the room where the air conditioning operation is required and moving toward the air conditioning load by itself, the movable air conditioner automatically cools or heats the air conditioning load by supplying a cold air or a warm air to the air conditioning load.
However, such a conventional movable air conditioner has a disadvantage in that the cooling and heating performance is deteriorated because the movable air conditioner has a structure in which a warm air and a cold air are always generated from a heating heat exchanger and a cooling heat exchanger of the air conditioning unit regardless of the cooling or heating state.
Particularly, in a cooling mode, the cooling performance is remarkably deteriorated because the warm air of the heating heat exchanger is continuously discharged into the room in spite of the cooling mode. In a heating mode, the heating performance is remarkably deteriorated because the cold air of the cooling heat exchanger is continuously discharged into the room in spite of the heating mode.
In addition, although the conventional movable air conditioner moves to the air conditioning load and locally cools or heats the air conditioning load, it is still used only in a specific space such as a room or the like. Thus, the use thereof is very limited.
In particular, the conventional movable air conditioner is not free to move because it is bulky and heavy. Therefore, the utilization of the conventional movable air conditioner is very limited.